LotR 214 - The Old Forest (1)

Tags

• lotr
• ninjadorg
• the-old-forest

Quest 2 in Ninjadorg's series of 6. Unlike Quest 1, this quest does not require single hero, single sphere deck, so I'm going to have to build another deck for it. I'm going for a dual sphere with the obvious choice of Eowyn and Theodred to round it out. This is just a power combo, even if the threat start a bit high at 29. The longer I play this game the more impressed I am with the power in some of the core set cards.

Initial hand after mulligan:

1. Son of Arnor
2. Stand and Fight
3. A Test of Will
4. Hasty Stroke
5. Guard of the Citadel
6. Gandalf

Round 1

1. Resource: 3, draw Valiant Sacrifice.
2. Planning: Play Guard of the Citadel.
3. Quest: Eowyn, Aragorn, Theodred for 7, draw Hummhorns. Net 4 progress.
4. Travel: None.
5. Encounter: Wolf Rider.
6. Combat: Aragorn takes it undefended, shadow Mountains of Mirkwood for no effect, 2 hits on Aragorn. Aragorn kills Wolf Rider.
7. Refresh: Threat 30.

Round 2

1. Resource: 4, draw Guard of the Citadel.
2. Planning: none.
3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, draw The Brown Lands, Threat 31.
4. Travel: The Brown Lands, which clears.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 3

1. Resource: 8, draw Celebrian's Stone.
2. Planning: Play Guard of the Citadel.
3. Quest: Theodred, Eowyn, draw Black Forest Bats and remove Theodred from the quest, which is fine, he adds the resource when he commits, so that's done. Net 2 Progress.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: Black Forest Bats.
6. Combat: Guard of the Citadel defends Black Forest Bats, shadow Enchanted Stream for no effect. 1 hit on Guard, Aragorn kills the bats.
7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 4

1. Resource: 10, draw Steward of Gondor.
2. Planning: Play Son of Arnor, Steward of Gondor, and Celebrian's Stone.
3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, draw The East Bight. Stage 1 is cleared. Chieftain Ufthak goes into staging area.
4. Travel: The East Bight.
5. Encounter: Engage Ufthak optionally.
6. Combat: Guard of the Citadel defends, shadow Marsh Adder for no effect. Guard of the Citadel is killed, play Valiant Sacrifice draw Unexpected Courage and Hasty Stroke. Aragorn, Guard of the Citadel, Son of Arnor attack for 3 hits on Ufthak.
7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 5

1. Resource: 10, draw Steward of Gondor.
2. Planning: Unexpected Courage on Aragorn.
3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Dol Guldur Orcs, 2 hits on Eowyn, will save Test of Will for worse cards. Net 1 Progress on East Bight.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: Dol Guldur Orcs.
6. Combat: Play Stand and Fight to bring in Guard of the Citadel, defends against Ufthak, shadow Caught in a Web for no effect. Guard of the Citadel defends Dol Guldur Orcs, shadow King Spider which requires exhausting a characters under my control. I'm going to cancel this with Hasty Stroke. Aragorn, Theodred, Son of Arnor swing for 6 to kill Ufthak. Ready Aragorn with Unexpected Courage, he kills Dol Guldur Orcs.
7. Refresh: Threat 34.

I'm a bit short on allies here. Probably need to stall to get my board state in a little bit better shape before tackling the Hill Troll, which is for sure coming in Stage 3. Hopefully I won't find the other Hill Troll before than.

Round 6

1. Resource: 10, draw Stength of Will.
2. Planning: none.
3. Quest: Eowyn, Aragorn, Theodred for 7, draw Mountains of Mirkwood, net 4 Progress on The East Bight.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 35.

I forgot to add +1 Will to Aragorn due to Celebrian's Stone.

Round 7

1. Resource: 15, draw For Gondor!
2. Planning: none.
3. Quest: Eowyn, Aragorn, Theodred, draw Hill Troll. Dang. This does clear The East Bight and put 3 Progress on Stage 2.
4. Travel: Can't risk traveling to Mountains of Mirkwood.
5. Encounter: Hill Troll.
6. Combat: Son of Arnor defends, shadow Dol Guldur Beastmaster for no effect. Threat 39. Uh oh.
7. Refresh: Threat 40.

Round 8

This is likely curtains for this play.

1. Resource: 19(!), draw Stand and Fight.
2. Planning: Gandalf to deal 4 hits to Hummerhorns, otherwise it's game over. Stand and Fight to put Son of Arnor into play.
3. Quest: Eowyn, draw East Bight Patrol, Threat 41.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: East Bight Patrol.
6. Combat: Hill Troll defended by Gandalf, shadow Driven By Shadow for no effect, 2 hits on Gandalf. Theodred defends East Bight Patrol, shqdaw Enchanted Stream for no effect, 1 hit on Theodred. Aragorn takes out East Bight Patrol. Play For Gondor! to put 4 hits on Hill Troll.
7. Refresh: Threat 42.

Round 9

1. Resource: 14, draw Sneak Attack. Would have liked to have had this a couple of rounds ago.
2. Planning: none.
3. Quest: Eowyn, Aragorn, draw Wargs for net 3 Progress. This is looking ugly.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: Wargs
6. Combat: Son of Arnor defends Hill Troll, shadow Necromancer's Pass for no effect. Threat 46. Aragorn and Theodred put 2 more hits on Hill Troll. If I draw a Gandalf I can save this game, otherwise, I'm toast. Aragorn defends Wargs, shadow Forest Gate for no effect.
7. Refresh: Threat 47

I'm calling it here, there is no chance of me winning this thing even if I drew a Gandalf. The troll would either kill one of the heros or I would threat out from excess damage.

AAR

This is a pretty cool scenario, I think a bit easier than Journey Along the Anduin, but has the same sort of risk profile with all the bad boss enemies in play. This deck or something pretty close to it can beat it, I'm pretty sure. I may need to add more Leadership allies.

Tags

• lotr
• ninjadorg
• the-old-forest